


Purple Skies; Diamond Eyes

by shallotgirl



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:33:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28900458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shallotgirl/pseuds/shallotgirl
Summary: Keith finds a strange blue boy at the beach instead of silence.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Kudos: 6





	Purple Skies; Diamond Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith finds a beached, blue boy instead of his quiet summer.

Purple Bay was the crowning jewel of this little town in South-eastern Texas; a tiny alcove away from the bustling cars and the city. It was known for the way the sunset casted over it’s sky and onto the water. An explosion of purples, pinks and reds as the sun fell beneath the skyline. A perfect tourist spot for the upcoming Summer vacation.

I could recall being annoyed with the tourist season since I was little. I was practically raised on the bay, so seeing so many people there at once threw my four year-old self into a fit of tears. And while I’ve grown to realize that Purple Bay, in-fact, did not belong to me, I still felt a sense of bitterness every Summer since. 

Which was exactly why I found myself walking along that familiar, concrete trail; dusk falling over the sky enshrouding the bay-area in an orange light. It was only just bright enough to see the trail. Barefoot, I could feel more and more sand piling up beneath me with each step; the sound of small waves crashing growing louder. The water was usually too cold at this time for bay-goers and tourists, perfect for a recluse like myself. I wanted to enjoy that rare-silence one more time. 

I approached my usual spot on the waterfront, setting my bag and shoes firmly in the sand where the water wouldn’t reach. Rolling up my jeans as far as I could, I stepped into the icy water; my toes already numb. I ventured out as far as I could, ignoring the water that crept up my pants around my knees.

For a good while, I just stood there and breathed. It felt good to just stop for a bit, to break away from stress and focus on nothing but the burning-cold water lapping at my legs. The sky was darkening, and the waves were growing larger by the moon exchanging with the sun. A larger wave was coming my way, I didn’t mind getting soaked, but I didn’t feel like showering twice in a day, so I started trodding my way back to the shoreline. 

Before I could get anywhere close to the shore though, the wave came crashing into my waist, which alone wouldn’t have sent me face-first into the water, however, what was in the wave is what knocked me down. Too heavy to be seaweed, a slimy and large mass laid on my backside while my stomach was flush with the wet sand. Panicking, I threw whatever was on me to the side and trudged out of the water as quick as I could seeing that I was soaking wet. 

What the fuck was that?? Did a shark hit me this close to shore?

I ran to the dry sand where my bag lay, heart pounding. My hands shook as I reached into the backpacks pockets, desperately searching for my phone. I pulled it out and turned on the flashlight, frantically aiming it at the water searching for what hit me and…

It was a person? A naked boy, face down and passed out in the sand with the water covering and lapping at his shoulders. 

Flashlight still aimed at his face, I slowly approached him, “Fuck… are you alive?”, even with the light I could barely make out his features. He had dark brown hair and tanned skin, and… and several slashes across his back, blood spilling into the water at an alarming rate. I reached out to poke at his face, flinching back when his face winced, but body still not moving.

“Fucking fine okay uh-” I went back to my bag in the sand. Stupid dad and his stupid first aid kit may finally come in handy for once, I thought to myself. I pulled out a plethora of gauze, hydrogen peroxide and a handful of other crap and headed back to the beached boy. 

Problem was, the boy was still unconscious. Stopping the bleeding would be easy enough, but what if he hit his head on the rocks outside the bay? Did he have a concussion? Who the hell is he and what the hell happened to him?

I had too many questions running through my head, and they probably weren’t going to get answers for a good while so I decided to do what I could in the meantime before he woke up. 

I crouched next to his head, putting my phone in my pocket so I could drag him as far out of the water possible so he didn’t catch hypothermia or frostbite. I wrapped my arms under his, my elbows connecting at his armpits. I pulled him into my chest which took way too much effort. Why the fuck was this guy so heavy?? Not only that but he was oddly warm for being submerged in that icy-blue water.

I grunted as I struggled to pull him not even two feet from his original place. I took another few deep breaths and kept dragging him away, until we sat about eight feet away from the shoreline. 

Wasting no time, I gathered my first-aid supplies up again and set to work to stop the bleeding from the large gash on his upper back. After cleaning up some of the blood, I noticed that the source of blood wasn’t from one source, but multiple. A set of large slashes in a half-ring pattern from his lower back to his upper right shoulder. 

A shark bite? Who the fuck is this guy??

Not only that, but while I tried to wrap his torso with the gauze, my hand hit something under his ribcage, it felt like slimy, loose skin but the colour didn’t match his. It was blue. A bright, glowing blue that glittered under the now black sky’s shining moon. Was he starting to turn blue from the cold? But… his body temperature is so hot, did he have a fever? I tried to inspect farther but before I could, the boy stirred.

“Hey are you awake?”, I shook at his shoulder, “Hello? Wake up man you just washed up on the-”

He spun out of my grasp, arm swinging in my direction and sharp nails cut into the side of my face. He hissed at me, a horrifically high pitched whisper that made me smack my hands over my ears. He reeled backwards, it looked like he was trying to get back into the freezing water but he...couldn't move?

I backed up further on shore, pulling my phone back out of my pocket for the flashlight, “Hey what the fuck! What are you-?”. 

Oh.

How the absolute fuck did I not notice that earlier?

Maybe it was because I was so focused on his upper-half for twenty minutes, but his   
lower half?? Instead of two normal legs, with knees and feet he wore a massive tail.

Giving up on his efforts to throw himself back into the water, he turned back and glared at me, his sharp teeth bared. I could only stare back, in shock with the new information thrown at me, and to make matters worse, he spoke.

“What do you want?” he said, his voice quiet yet assertive.

I felt my face twist into something fierce, “Wha- what do I-? Are you fucking kidding me? You were bleeding out on the beach and you fucking attacked ME! What even are you??” He looked down, probably just realizing the sloppy bandage job around his torso.

He started to speak, but his words were caught in his throat by a nasty coughing spout. He doubled over, his hands clutched over the sides of his ribcage. He looked up at me, not with a glare, but a pleading face. Eyes darting between me and the ocean. Oh, of course, naturally. Those flaps of skin on his side must have been gills, I GUESS. But no matter how urgent the situation, I couldn’t help but be cautious as I got near him again to drag him towards the water, considering how he lashed out earlier.

“I’ll help, but no more of this shit okay?” I pointed at the cut spewing blood on my cheek, and he nodded, pouting.

“Okay, but I didn’t get to wrap the cuts on your shoulders, so I’m sorry if it hurts.” I tucked my arms under his once again, this time with his back to my knees. He was obviously uncomfortable, squirming his shoulders and clenching his fist that were being held in the air.

As we got closer to the water, I started to worry about the bandages, “Hey these bandages aren’t water-proof, will you be able to-” He stopped me, craning his neck up to show me another set of gills on the sides of his neck.

“Oh” Was all I could say as we finally reached the water. He sprung out of my grab and put his head into the bay-water, being surprisingly careful to not wet the bandages. His hands scooped up the water and poured it over the back of his neck. Water trickling down his collarbones. I looked him up and down, taking in everything I had somehow missed. 

His tail flopped around behind him unconsciously, the two fins on each side twitching in the damp sand. His elbows and shoulders seemed to have the same texture as his tail, as well as a set of fins on his forearms. He looked pretty roughed up, patches of scales missing on his tail exposing raw...skin?? Blubber?? I had no idea. 

It was all starting to set in a bit more; I just saved mermaid, an actual mermaid-no, merman?

My knees were going weak, so I plopped down a few feet away from the merman who had his head submerged in the water like an ostrich in the dirt.

He jerked his head out of the water at the movement, mouth open and eyes wide. 

“Whoa-um… sorry. Are you...okay?”

He took in a large breath, “Yeah, thanks to you anyways. I'm sorry about that by the way.” He gestured to his own cheek.

I grit my teeth, “It’s okay, it still stings though from the saltwater.”

He didn’t say anything to that, just looked back towards the water.

Feeling awkward, I asked, “So what are you? And, what the hell happened?”

He groaned, “Some stupid fisherman, he threw his excess fish bait into the water because he was frustrated he wasn’t catching anything. I mean, it’s not my fault for him fishing in already marked territory! It’s my area, of course I’d already caught most of the fish there that day.” He sighed, actually rolling his glowing eyes (a weird sight, seeing as his eyelids were transparent).

“-and, well let’s just say the bait brought ‘unwanted guests’ to the area. Damn Charlie thought I was hiding food from him and fucking attacked me!” He turned to meet my eyes, “Can you believe that??”

I could only stare, my jaw open.

“What?” He reached over and lifted my jaw back into place, “Bull sharks are nasty fuckers.”

I couldn't help it. I folded in half and almost threw up from nervous laughter. I could taste the saltiness of the tears that streamed down my face. I must have worried the poor merman, as he wrapped an arm around my shoulder and asked what was wrong.

Through the tears I managed to say, “I am so fucking confused right now.”

“Oh right, I guess this is probably a little shocking for you huh?” I nodded at that, wiping the tears away as the laughter subsided.

He unwrapped himself from my shoulder and held out his hand, “I’m Lance, let’s start with that.”

I took his hand in my own and shook, “Keith.”

I was freezing. The sun had gone down completely about half an hour ago, leaving me with the freezing clothes on my back, a scratched cheek and an injured merman. Through shivering teeth I asked, “So, have you always been like this?”

He stared at me, “Um… yes? I grew up in the waters a few miles out from this bay.”

“Wait so do you have a family? Are there more of you?”

He shifted in the sand, clearly uncomfortable with the question, “Why?”

“Well, I’ve never met anything like you before. Sue me, I’m curious.”

“Well, I can’t exactly trust you, even if you did save me.”

“What?? You don’t trust me?”

“No I just… most of the people I’ve met aren’t exactly like you. They took one of my friends a long time ago, he said that they were curious as to what we were like and wanted to help them. That was about a year ago now.”

“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t know, but I’m not like that. I’m just a k-kid.”

“How old are you?”

“S-seventeen.” I was shaking harder now, I clenched my arms tighter around my chest, not wanting to admit defeat to the cold and leave.

“Why do you keep doing that?”

“Doing w-w-what?” 

“That! You keep stuttering! And I don’t think humans should be blue, your hands are losing colour!”

“I’m cold! Aren't you?”

“Not really, it’s a little cold above the water but I’m built for it.”

“Oh…” We both didn’t say anything after that for what felt like a long time, even if it was just a few seconds. 

“Um, Lance?”

“Hm?”

“If I came back tomorrow, would you come back too?”

He looked out to the open ocean in contemplation, tracing his tail behind him in the sand. He let out a quiet laugh, “Yeah, I don’t want you to freeze out here, but I can’t come out until the sun starts to go down, okay?”

“Yeah okay, I’ll probably end up sleeping all day tomorrow because of tonight haha.”

Keith stood up, brushing off the sand on his now some-what dry clothes and straight onto Lance. 

“Hey!! Watch what you're doing!”

“Serves you right after everything I’ve endured today.”

Lance turned his head away, pouting again. 

I started packing my backpack with all of my medical shit, “Hey are you gonna be okay? You were bleeding a lot earlier and I know I’m not great with first aid.”

“Yeah I should be okay, the saltwater is good for the cuts actually.” he said, beginning to tear off the gauze around his torso, wincing as it peeled off some of the freshly forming scabs. 

“What! You should’ve said that earlier, idiot! Why did you keep the bandages on then??” 

He shrugged, not meeting my eyes, “...because you tried so hard to help me, I might still be bleeding out if you didn’t do anything.” he said that quietly, his tail curling around itself in embarrassment. It made my face go warm.

“Oh, w-well,” I stuttered, this time not caused by the cold, “take care of yourself then while I’m gone, I don’t want to have to save you again if it means getting soaking wet.”

He didn’t say anything to that, just continued to play with his tail and nodded. I shuffled awkwardly, not sure how to leave, “I’ll… see you tomorrow?” 

“Yeah, okay! Get warm!” He said too quickly and slipped into the water, tail disappearing into the blue and leaving a snake-like impression in the sand, quickly erased by the lapping waves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thankyou for reading! I hope u liked my (probably horrible) first attempt at a serious fic
> 
> There's more to come tho! I'm already working on the next few chapters :)


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